Donald Stratton, one of the last members of the USS Arizona’s crew to survive the attack on Pearl Harbor, died in his sleep Sunday at his home in Colorado Springs, Colo., at 97.
Stratton had been in increasingly failing health since a bout with pneumonia in October, The Associated Press reported. He published the memoir “All The Gallant Men” detailing his experience in the attack in 2016.
“One of Donald’s final wishes was that people remember Pearl Harbor and the men aboard the USS Arizona. Share their story and never forget those who gave all for our great country,” a post on his Facebook page read, adding that his son Randy and wife of seven decades Velma were present when he died.
Stratton’s death leaves Ken Potts and Lou Conter as the last surviving members of the ship’s crew.
“He was a very humble, very quiet hero,” Randy told the AP. “He didn’t want or seek the attention he received.”
Nearly 2,500 people died in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The surprise strike from the Japanese prompted the United States’ entrance into the Second World War.